INTRODUCTION
Isaiah
"Comfort My People"
From the time they were first uttered, the words of the
prophet Isaiah have been etched, even imbedded, into our
consciousness. They are unforgettable words, heavy laden not
only with meaning but with hope and with promise, words
like "'God with us'"
(Isa. 7:14, The Living Bible).
"For unto us a child is
born"
(Isa. 9:6),
"Every valley shall be exalted"
(Isa. 40:4),
and "he was
wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chas-
tisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed"
(Isa. 53:5).
Words create pictures, images, echoes; weak, paltry words create weak,
paltry pictures; powerful, refined, well-crafted words create powerful,
refined images and loud, crisp echoes. This, of course, explains why Isaiah's
words speak so loudly, so crisply to us—even after 27 centuries.
In his suffering-servant poem, for instance
(Isa. 52:13-53:12),
Isaiah
brings a picture of the Messiah into finer resolution than anyone else does in
the Old Testament. This section alone is enough to justify his sobriquet, "the
gospel prophet."
Plus, his prediction of Cyrus, by name, a century and a half before the
Persian king conquered Babylon
(Isa. 44:28-45:6), is
so stunningly specific
that some scholars have attributed much of Isaiah to a later "second Isaiah,"
a hollow creation of those unable to see past the crusty intellectual confines
of human imagination.
With a unique blend of vivid imagery, matchless poetic rhythm and bal-
ance, Beethovenlike dramatic contrasts, and a rich weave of profound themes
that recur in a sophisticated symphonic process of ongoing elaboration and
development, Isaiah's inspired book is a worthy literary vehicle for divine
thoughts that are higher than the mundane as the heavens are higher than the
earth
(see Isa. 55:9).
Even in translation, which loses the evocative word
plays and alliterations of the Hebrew, the book of Isaiah has few peers in the
history of literature, either secular or sacred.
We know his words, so eloquent, so poetic, so emotive, and powerful, but
do we know the man Isaiah and the world in which he wrote, prayed, and
prophesied? As the cruel Assyrian Empire rose to its height of power, it was
a time of crushing peril. Even worse, the people of Judah, the chosen people,
were sinking ever deeper into moral weakness. Greed and misery fought in
the streets. In their struggle for wealth or survival, some puffed the narcotic
vapors of vain euphoria while others withered in despair. Seeking to preserve
his nation's identity by taking a remnant from a state of denial and anchor-
ing them in reality, Isaiah called upon his people to behold their God, the
Holy One of Israel, the Creator of heaven and earth, the One who knew them
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